Yorkshire Water | Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Report & Content Index 2018

Reviewer note: The text provided is the source Yorkshire Water 2018 GRI Report & Content Index itself, not the FirmoGraphs blog post that presumably referenced it. The content below is a faithful structural rendering of that source document. See notes.

What is Yorkshire Water’s GRI report and how was it prepared?

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a leading organisation in global sustainability reporting. This 2018 GRI Content Index report, prepared in accordance with GRI Standards, supplements Yorkshire Water’s 2018 ARFS and APR Reports (for fiscal year 2017/18).

This is the first time that Yorkshire Water has used the GRI Standards as a guiding principle for integrated reporting. The report was prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards: Core option and is aligned with the four GRI reporting principles taken from GRI 101: Foundation 2016:

• Stakeholder Inclusiveness Principle: Key stakeholder groups have been identified and mapped, with an explanation of how the company has responded to their concerns and interests.
• Sustainability Context Principle: The report presents the company’s economic, environmental and social performance, reflecting its reliance on financial, natural and social resources.
• Materiality Principle: The topics and disclosures reflect key sustainability impacts and align with issues that substantially influence stakeholders’ assessments and decisions.
• Completeness Principle: The material topics reflect significant economic, environmental and social impacts, enabling stakeholders to assess performance in the reporting period.

How does Yorkshire Water engage customers and stakeholders?

Yorkshire Water’s Insight Team manages customer research (working with Loop and Service Delivery), the Colleague Communications Team manages colleague engagement, and a dedicated Political and Stakeholder Engagement Team sits within the Communications directorate.

The company reports good relationships with local authorities, Members of Parliament, regulators and the environmental NGO community. For its PR19 engagement (2017/18), it engaged further, meeting with Local Enterprise Partnerships, social NGOs, developers and other local infrastructure providers (e.g. Northern Gas Networks and Northern Powergrid). Engagement was expanded beyond the Yorkshire region to national contacts including OFWAT, DEFRA, Environment Agency, Natural England, CC Water and DWI.

The main focus of engagement was to identify stakeholders’ priority issues to carry forward into PR19 plans. Issues raised spanned customers, colleagues, local authorities/NGOs/politicians, and regulators (Environment Agency, Ofwat, Drinking Water Inspectorate) and government (Defra), and were addressed across the Strategic Report, APR, or the Yorkshire Water website.

What are Yorkshire Water’s material topics?

A materiality assessment aligned identified issues with Strategic Business Objectives, resulting in 24 topics considered material to the business, agreed and signed off by the Senior Management Team:

1. Encourage customers to value and save water
2. Making sure customers always have enough water
3. Investing in infrastructure to manage risks
4. Be a recognised regional leader
5. Protect and improve the water environment
6. Work in partnership to deliver services
7. Supporting the region’s flood management
8. Reducing water wastage and leaks
9. Meeting the needs of a growing population
10. Take care of waste water and prevent sewer flooding
11. Health & safety and wellbeing of colleagues & partners
12. Resilient supply chain
13. Energy use
14. Being an attractive investment
15. Effluents and waste
16. Employee relations
17. Staff training
18. Customer service and good communication
19. Keeping bills as low as possible
20. Manage the land for societal value and recreational access
21. Managing fire/explosion risks
22. Reacting to climate change
23. Providing water that is clean and safe to drink
24. Diversity of customers and colleagues

GRI 102: General Disclosures — organisational profile

• 102.1 Name: Yorkshire Water Services Limited
• 102.3 Headquarters: Western House, Halifax Road, Bradford BD6 2SZ
• 102.8 Employees (by category):

• 102.10 Significant changes: There have been no significant changes this reporting year.
• 102.50 Reporting period / 102.52 cycle: 2017/18
• 102.51 Date of most recent report: March 2018
• 102.53 Contact point: publicaffairs@yorkshirewater.co.uk
• 102.56 External assurance: GRI Disclosure Review Service

Governance and reporting practice

Economic, environmental and social topics are managed through the corporate governance structure, with the Business Investment Committee responsible for expenditure and the audit committee assuring and managing risks. The Board is the highest governing body and signs off the integrated Annual Report and Financial Statements (ARFS). The 2017/18 report is the company’s first GRI report (102.48, 102.49).

Yorkshire Water collectively bargains with unions for grades 4, 5 and 6, constituting 89% of colleagues; 100% of employees are entitled to join a union (102.41).

Economic disclosures (GRI 201, 203, 204)

• GRI 203.1 Infrastructure investments: References to “Our new charges & £318m investment plan” and capital/infrastructure renewals expenditure.
• GRI 204.1 Local supplier spend: Information unavailable — the company does not record spending on suppliers by region.
• GRI 201.2 Climate change: The Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) scores the impact, proximity and probability of approximately 40 climate-related risks and opportunities identified as material. The 25-year Water Resources Management Plan shows a deficit in the supply-demand balance, prompting continued investment to bridge the gap.

Environmental disclosures (GRI 302, 305, 306, 308)

Energy (GRI 302):

• 302.1: In 2017/18 the company consumed 719GWh of energy — 431,516GJ of fuel from non-renewable sources (diesel, petrol, gas oil, kerosene and natural gas) and 231,464GJ from renewable sources (including electricity and heat). It also sold 1.3GWh of electricity from its digester facilities.
• 302.3 Energy intensity: Measured as kilowatts per mega-litre (electricity only, within Yorkshire Water).
• 302.4 Reduction: In 2017/18 energy consumption (electricity and heating) was reduced by 406GJ through conservation and efficiency initiatives.
• 302.5: Energy requirements increased this year — waste water from 853,609GJ (2016/17) to 885,113GJ (2017/18); clean water from 958,822GJ to 1,008,139GJ.

Emissions (GRI 305): Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions are reported in the ARFS Strategic Report (“Reducing operational greenhouse gas emissions” p30).

Social disclosures (GRI 402, 403, 404, 405, 413, 414, 416, 418)

Occupational Health & Safety (GRI 403): The highest H&S forum is the Occupational Health & Safety Forum, meeting quarterly and jointly chaired by the head of health and safety and a lead trade union H&S representative. Reported 2017/18 outcomes (403.2):

• No fatalities
• 35 lost time injuries
• Sickness absence rate of 3.23%
• No occupational diseases reported

All injuries occurred in the UK; injury data by gender is not available. The company’s safety vision is “Everyone, every day, safe and well,” managed through six key performance indicators and the Kelda safety improvement plan (8 themes, 80 initiatives). Ten Life Saving Rules were rolled out in 2017.

Diversity & Equal Opportunity (GRI 405): The diversity and inclusion strategy covers four priority areas — representation, inclusion, capability and customer equality — supported by a steering group with work streams on gender, ability, ethnicity and LGBTQ. Commitments include a STEM Forward Ladies development programme for 20 female colleagues, BME talent development, neuro-diversity support through Lighthouse Talent City Supported Internships, and business disability forum membership.

Customer Privacy (GRI 418): Yorkshire Water identified no substantiated complaints regarding breaches of customer privacy and received no communications from the Information Commissioner’s Office regarding data breaches.

Appendix 1 — Procurement practices (GRI 103, 204, 308, 414)

All expenditure for goods and services is governed by Yorkshire Water’s Procurement Rules. The process begins with a “Sourcing Request,” after which category buyers conduct a risk score assessment based on 10 individually weighted criteria, driving the level of procurement involvement (full EU tender, non-EU tender, or a fully devolved process).

Suppliers are identified via the Achilles Vendor Database (UVDB) or an OJEU Contract Notice. Yorkshire Water Services uses SAP Ariba Sourcing for OJEU tenders under the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, operating a 3-stage process: RFI, RFI Compliance, and RFP. At RFI stage, human rights (including Modern Slavery), environmental criteria (ISO14001 or equivalent) and biodiversity policies are subject to pass/fail evaluation.

GRI 308 and 414 supplier screening:

1. Percentage of new suppliers screened using environmental criteria: 100% (all suppliers pass through the Vendor Risk Management process before becoming a vendor).
2. Percentage of new suppliers screened using social criteria: 100%.
3. Number of suppliers assessed for environmental and/or social impacts: Unsure, as non-OJEU procurement is decentralised.
4. Number of suppliers identified as having significant actual and potential negative social/environmental impacts: Unsure, as non-OJEU procurement is decentralised.
5. Significant negative impacts identified in the supply chain: Unsure — not aware of an official record.
6. Percentage with which improvements were agreed: There are no instances where YWS identified suppliers with significant negative impacts; a couple of suppliers were kept off the vendor list for failing Vendor Risk Management before any work commenced.

The company worked with the University of Hull to understand which contracted activities are at greatest risk from Modern Slavery.

Appendix 2 — Waste (GRI 103, 306)

Yorkshire Water manages and reports waste through the ”% waste diverted from landfill” Performance Commitment, first reported in 2015/16. (Source text truncated at this point.)